The Time Given To Us
by Radar1388
Summary: Darren has been very distant for a few days and Mr. Crepsley finds out why. One-shot. Slight father/son fic.


_* **For Amela333's Summer Quote Contest**! __This my first Darren Shan Saga fiction. I'm hoping it is decent. This is set sometime after the Vampire's Assistant but before the Tunnels of Blood. Can be thought of as an AU. _**NOT A SLASH!**

**Disclaimer: **_I don't own The Darren Shan Saga._

"How long do vampires live for?" Darren asked.

My assistant and I had broken off from the Cirque Du Freak for the time being. We had been traveling from town to town with the hustle and bustle of the Cirque and had been feeling a tad cooped up. Vampires are initially loners, you see. Therefore, we both agreed to a minor vacation.

We were currently resting in a decrepit barn, obviously abandoned by the past owners. We left only a few days ago.

I drew my finger along the scar that ran down my face. "Fairly long. A friend of mine, Paris Skyle, is in his late 800's," I said. "Why do you ask?" I was happy that he was talking again, though.

He merely shrugged and turned back to the fire, prodding the coals with a stick.

Darren had been oddly quiet for nearly a week now and I thought that our short escapade might cheer him up.

We sat there for some time, watching the smoke seep through the cracks and holes in the tall, wooden ceiling. The flames were held in a ring in the dirt so as not to set the building on fire.

The silence was both boring and unnerving. In the first few months, I ignored most of Darren's mood swings, but nowadays, with his recent upset, I had been more curious.

"Could humans move onto Paradise, too?" The half-vampire jolted me out of my thoughts. He looked at me with hopeful eyes.

I raised an eyebrow. "Instead of riddles," I said. "How about you actually _tell_ me what is on your mind."

"You wouldn't understand." His expression changed to a darker one. The look he gave told me he still viewed me as a monster.

Darren sighed, rifled through his pockets, reached over the small fire, and handed me a folded piece of paper. I scowled. It was a shredded section of a newspaper, and he expected me to read it. I opened my mouth, ready to explain to my assistant that I was illiterate, but he already started speaking.

"My dad." Darren's whisper was barley audible, even for the ears of a full vampire. I looked again at the parchment and I recognized one word. _Obituaries._ "He died in a car accident two weeks ago." I looked up to see that Darren's face was turned away. But even in the shadows, I could make out the small drops of mist forming in the corners of his eyes.

I felt my features soften in slight pity. Though it was a harsh shame, I am afraid my protégé would have to get used this. Death and being a vampire go together.

When I told him this, it only made things worse.

"I _knew_ you wouldn't understand!" He shouted, bolting to his feet. Angry tears flowed down his cheeks. "You're a vampire. You don't care about who dies. You probably wouldn't even care if _I_ died!"

I chuckled darkly, keeping my voice level. "You would be surprised of how little you know."

Darren continued his yells with ranting and pacing, repeating how much I did not care, saying that I would not give a crap if vampaneze fed on his family's blood, and other such things related. Looking at him, I could tell that even _he_ knew the foolish things that were coming out of his mouth. But I let the child ramble on until he was done.

Finally he stopped and collapsed to his knees a few feet from the fire, his breathing staggered and exhausted.

"Are you through?" I asked. Darren grimaced and flexed his fingers, as if considering striking out with his semi-sharp nails. Instead, he nodded, brought his knees to his chest, and sobbed into them.

I ran a hand through my orange hair. I stood up and walked over to him. Sitting back down, I placed a hand on his shaking shoulders.

With a sigh I said, "You have not spoken in a while, this is because of your father."

"What was your first clue?" My assistant remarked with irritation.

"And here I thought that you were just moody from taking your first drink of human blood."

"Sam." He whispered.

"Darren, death is nothing to dwell on. And you have been doing nothing but moping this past week."

"What else am I going to do?" He looked up at me with red, wet eyes. "One of my best friends _and _my dad just died!"

"But they would not want you to mourn this long for them. Instead of being sad, vampires try to decide what to do with the time that is given to us. There is plenty of time to be dead, Darren, but only so little to live."

His face scrunched in slight confusion as he let my words sink in.

"I'm sorry I shouted at you, Mr. Crepsley." Darren said suddenly.

"I do understand what you are going through," I told him with a half-smile. "I once had a family, too, you know."

Then unexpectedly, Darren hugged me. He buried his face in my chest "Again, I'm sorry." Much to my instincts dismay, I hugged him back, holding him as if he were my own son.

Another long silence followed after I released him. This time, there was no tension. Taking some left over deer meat from my bag, we cooked our dinner over the fire. I told Darren that we could start tracking down the Cirque again tomorrow. He smiled and told me he could not wait to see Evra.

As I rotated my food, a thought occurred to me. "You asked me about vampire ages and if humans could go on to Paradise. Why?"

Without looking up from his deer leg, Darren said, "I want to know when I can see my family again."

_* **The quote**: All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.(Gandalf from JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings) _

_**I've only read** up to the tenth book of the Saga and am not sure of the initial fate of Darren's family. Please don't spoil it for me. I've also not read Larten Crepsley's Saga too. Even though I wish I have._

**_HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!_**


End file.
